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Every year,
driver’s contracts expire. It happens to all athletes. No one
has a “lifetime contract” for anything. In most cases, if the
driver has done well, he’ll renew or extend his contract, and
hardly anyone even notices. If the driver has been around for a
long time, he may retire when his contract is up. Or he may
decide to start his own team.
But every
year, there are a few drivers who decide to leave their current
team, and join another. It is their right. After all, once
their contract is up, they’re free to do what they want.
The problem is
that they make the decision before their contract
expires. They have already signed with a new team while
still driving for their old team.
This year,
there are already three drivers who are finishing the season for
one team, knowing they will be driving for someone else next
year. Dale Jarrett (moving from Yates Racing to Waltrip
Racing), Casey Mears (moving from Ganassi to Hendrick), and
Brian Vickers (moving from Hendrick to an undecided future).
Last year was
an even worse situation, with some drivers having full years
remaining on their contracts, and wanting to get out of
that final year. (Actually, Brian Vickers is in that same
situation this year, but there hasn’t been much hoopla
over it).
These drivers
who are driving for one team, knowing they will drive for
someone else the following year, are often called “Lame
Duck Drivers.” And the big question surrounding them is this.
How hard will they work during their “lame duck” period?
If they drive
as hard as they can, they’re in a way, helping their future
competition. They are building up owner points for a car that
someone else will drive the next year. They are building
momentum for a team that they will be competing against in a few
months. And if they race hard against the current
competition, there’s a chance they could cause a wreck, or make
some mistake that could cause hard feelings between themselves
and future team mates.
On the other
hand, if they start to “take it easy” on the track, or try to
work with the guys that will be their teammates in the future,
they aren’t really fulfilling their contractual obligations.
People may question their loyalty. People may question their
integrity. If they take it too easy, some people may
even question their driving ability.
So how does
NASCAR fix the lame duck problem? Maybe they should take a page
out of other sports rulebooks. In other sports, when a player
is traded from one team to another, the trade is effective
immediately.
If Hendrick
wants to let Brian Vickers go, and replace him with Casey Mears,
they should work out a trade deal with Ganassi and whatever team
is interested in Vickers, and do it immediately. Of course,
that would make the owner standings and the driver standings a
jumbled mess.
The other
option (also taken from other sports’ rulebooks) is to make
“free agents” wait until the season is over before they
talk to other teams. Tell drivers that they can’t negotiate a
contract with other teams until their contract is actually
expired. It may make some drivers nervous, wondering if
they have a ride the following year, but if they are decent
drivers, it should not be a real concern.
In either
case, it would get rid of the “Lame Duck” scenario. And it
would keep more focus on the races and the driving, than on who
is going where or driving for whom next season. |
